ALABAMA. 



11 



tients have been admitted and 213 have been 

 discharged, leaving 402 under treatment on 

 the 30th of September last, of whom 213 

 are women and 189 men. The percentage of 

 cures on admissions was 44-50, and the per- 

 centage of deaths on the total number treated 

 was 5'84. Of those under treatment at the 

 date of the report, 71 were colored. The num- 

 ber of applications for treatment within the 

 two years beginning October 1, 1878, was 427, 

 of which 214 were received. In this time 142 

 were refused for want of room. The hospital 

 receipts for 1878~'79 were $85,095.95, of which 

 $68,659.50 was from the State, and the balance 

 from paying patients, sale of stock, borrowed 

 money, etc., and the expenditures for all pur- 

 poses were $85,095.95. The receipts for 1879 

 -'80 were $84,658.07, of which $67,203.50 was 

 from the State, and $3,288.15 was borrowed;, 

 the expenditures, including the payment of mon- 

 ey borrowed the previous year, were the same. 



There is a Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum 

 in the State, in which the number of pupils is 

 75, of whom 19 are blind. All deaf-mutes in 

 the State, and all blind children over eight years 

 of age, are entitled to the benefits of the insti- 

 tution free of charge, save that all except the 

 indigent bear the expense of travel from their 

 homes and pay for their clothing. 



In the State Penitentiary there were on Sep- 

 tember 30, 1878, 954 convicts, after which date 

 270 were received and five were recaptured, 

 making a total during the two years of 929. 

 Of these, 274 were discharged, 29 were par- 

 doned, 26 escaped, and 60 died, leaving in 

 prison on the 30th of September, 1880, only 

 540 convicts a decrease in two years of 114. 

 At the same date in 1878 there was due to the 

 Penitentiary, and uncollected, from contract- 

 ors $17,290.81, from the United States $626.50, 

 and from other sources $35.11, and there was 

 in the hands of the Warden in cash $5,313.37 

 in all, $20,247.79. The gross earnings of 

 the prison for two years were $51,813.15, and 

 the expenses for provisions, clothing, wood, 

 medicine, and transportation of convicts since 

 March 1, 1879, were $9,840.94, leaving as net 

 earnings $41,972.21. 



There exists in Alabama a system of hard 

 labor as an alternative for imprisonment in the 

 Penitentiary. It is peculiar to the State, where 

 it results in such diversity of punishment for 

 the same offense in different localities that in 

 some cases felons practically escape with a fine 

 and in others are punished excessively and cru- 

 elly ; for a sentence to hard labor for the 

 county is supplemented by a further condition- 

 al sentence, often for a longer period than that 

 fixed for the crime, for the payment of costs, 

 thus bearing hardly and unequally on the evil- 

 doer whose inability to pay subjects him to 

 longer confinement and service. The growing 

 disposition to substitute hard labor for the 

 county for hard labor in the Penitentiary is 

 depopulating the latter, in which the number 

 of convicts is decreasing at the rate of more 



than fifty a year the actual decrease in two 

 years being 114. 



On the subject of the payment of costs in 

 criminal cases, the Governor, in his message to 

 the Legislature, presents the following views : 

 " I recommend such changes in the laws pre- 

 scribing hard labor for the county for misde- 

 meanors as will forbid and prevent punishment 

 for non-payment of costs. In a recent case, 

 an offender convicted of two misdemeanors on 

 the same day and in the same court, was sen- 

 tenced to three months' hard labor for each of- 

 fense, and, on default of payment of costs, to 

 hard labor for an additional period of nearly 

 three years in each case. This is an instance 

 of unusual hardship ; but many cases differing 

 from this in degree only have been brought to 

 my attention. Inability to pay costs is not a 

 crime, and should not be treated as such. 

 Reasonable costs should be paid by the county 

 which has the service at hard labor of con- 

 victs for misdemeanors, and the State should 

 pay reasonable costs where the sentence is to 

 the Penitentiary. Adequate punishment should 

 be inflicted for every offense committed, but 

 no punishment should ever be permitted for 

 mere inability to pay what is in effect and fact, 

 whatever it may be in law, a debt to the State 

 or to its officers." 



The receipts and expenditures of the State 

 Treasury for the fiscal year ending September 

 30, 1880, were as follows: At the close of the 

 last fiscal year, on October 1, 1879, there was a 

 balance in the Treasury of $267,051.75. Dur- 

 ing the ensuing year the total receipts amount- 

 ed to $681,174.81, and the disbursements to 

 $597,692.82, leaving a balance in the Treas- 

 ury, September 30, 1880, of $350,533.74, or 

 $83,481.99 as the net accumulation of the year. 

 This is attributable to the economy of the ad- 

 ministration for 1880, a comparison of dis- 

 bursements with those of the preceding year 

 showing a difference of more than $90,000 

 in favor of 1880. The fact of there being no 

 General Assembly to pay partly accounts for 

 this difference, but that expense being less than 

 $50,000, there remains a balance to the credit 

 of the administration of more than $40,000. 

 This statement, by comparison with those of 

 former years, discloses the fact that receipts 

 from general taxes have decreased. For the 

 fiscal year ending September, 1878, the State 

 received from general taxes $593,499.34; the 

 next year $564,722.17; and for the year 1880, 

 $515,716.16. Receipts from the tax on license, 

 redemption of land, the Penitentiary, and other 

 sources of revenue, were increased. 



The following statement shows the valua- 

 tions and taxation of property in Alabama for 

 the last four years : 



